National Championship or National Chairman's

[Bharat Nain]

Originally Posted by preussrobotics

I've got to go with Chairman's. It's an easy choice considering the effect that each award would have on others. The Chairman's Award indicates that you've changed your whole community. The Championship would be great, but really only effects my team. There's no comparison.

If we did not win the championship in 2000, it would not have been as easy to pursue our sponsors Bristol Myers squibb to sponsor 6 more teams in the region and fund the NJ Regional. So winning the championship made a huge difference in the whole community, and it was a team effort. The drive team learnt the game and the field, the scouts did their job scouting, the pit crew did their job repairing, and the volcano crew did their job cheering. The whole team was active. Yes, I know you can argue that chairmans is like "working behind the scenes" but winning the championship made a huge difference to our community which was otherwise kinda hard. Our team has been helping out in our region just because its a good experience. As D.J.Fluck said, all of us are guilty of wanting the chairmans as if its a bribe, I think he is kinda right because a part of our team does do it for that reason. My vote goes for Championship because I have seen it has a major impact in the community.

[cruiseshipchris]

I think that the Chairman's award is a comination of having a good robot and spreading the ideals of FIRST in the community

[Jessica Boucher]

So, with a poll with results pretty much split down the center, and 6 pages of discussion, is it safe to say that the best answer is....both?

[jjdebner]

Wel,l team 67 earned both, congrads!

[StephLee]

Hard choice...but I'm too competitive for my own good; I had to go for Champion. Even though winning National Chairman's Award would guarantee a spot at the Championship every year from now on.

[George A.]

I'd say Chairmans...It shows you're spreading the message of FIRST to the masses and are helping to make the world a better place. My competitive edge in me wants to say Championship, but if you win National Chairmans then you're forever remembered in the Hall of Fame, Champions aren't the same way, who knows who the champion was in 1999 off the top of your head? I know you can do a seach, but the point is that Chairmans gains instant recognition.

It'll be interesting to see what 67 has to say on the matter...seeing as how they set a new precedent, winning the Championship and National Chairmans in the same year.

Just my input to the debate.

[Heretic121]

i would like to hear from a team 67 member and ask which one feels more rewarding and why...

[dachickindapit]

Originally Posted by M.O.R.T.

I'd say Chairmans...It shows you're spreading the message of FIRST to the masses and are helping to make the world a better place. My competitive edge in me wants to say Championship, but if you win National Chairmans then you're forever remembered in the Hall of Fame, Champions aren't the same way, who knows who the champion was in 1999 off the top of your head? I know you can do a seach, but the point is that Chairmans gains instant recognition.

It'll be interesting to see what 67 has to say on the matter...seeing as how they set a new precedent, winning the Championship and National Chairmans in the same year.

I voted in this poll months ago, when it first came out. My vote was for the Chairman's Award, and my choice hasn't changed. This is my fifth year on the team -- 3 as a student, 2 as a mentor. We've had very competitive robots for years and that's great, but we've also had a heavy focus on the community outreach and spreading the word of FIRST. Without FIRST, none of us would be here, communicating with each other and sharing our knowledge and experiences. Many students wouldn't have gone on to college (be it for engineering or other things). Would we have the teams and the visibility in expanding science and technology if teams hadn't made the time and the effort to do what the Chairman's Award is all about?

FIRST is an incredible program that can give anyone involved a whole new perspective on life itself. The rest of my team is still on a bus en route from Atlanta (I couldn't go -- I'm on Kettering University's messed-up schedule and in school right now), but I'd love for them to post how they feel.

[santosh]

I think it would be more fun to have won chairmans. It is what this competition was originally designed for. There isn't as much stress when you win that because you automatically get to nationals.

But at the same time if you win the competition portion, it is fun because you have beat professional engineers and big name companies. It is pretty close but that bye to nationals put Chairmans on top.

[JackN]

There is no way you can pick the championship. If you win chairmans you are inducted to the hall of fame. That just sounds cool.

[Micah Siegel]

I haven't read the other posts, but I'm very happy Chairman's is in the lead. When my team won the regional Chairman's Award in New York last year I started crying. It shows that you've really made a difference in the community, not just built a good robot.

[Justin]

Originally Posted by Andy Grady

Usually, I stray from the whole Chairmans/Championship debate, but I would like to throw my thoughts out there....

I am one of those people who values the Championship over the Chairmans. Though the ideals of what Chairmans is about are good, I have never really been one to believe that the purpose they uphold is truely what "inspires" students. I come from a team with a long history in FIRST. Over my ten years of involvement, I have grown up with a number of people with a certain passion for FIRST. I love the games, I love the excitement, and I love the friendships involved. These are all things which I can honestly say that I have gained from just plainly and simply being a competitor. For instance, I look to team 121. Back when I was a student, they grew into one of our biggest rivals. Over the years, the rivalry remained, but as a result of that rivalry, a friendship grew. I am proud to call the guys from 121 my friends, and I still love to compete on a high level with or against them. This competitive spirit is in my opinion, exactly what inspires people to engineering, as it is what inspired me. What I have found with Chairmans, with all due respect to the past chairmans winners, is that the award has been judged on a gimick basis. Though deserving of awards for all the hard work and effort that these teams put into the programs they build within their team to promote FIRST, I think that these teams only represent a portion of those who truely deserve recognition for their efforts. I think there are tons of teams out there who focus extremely hard on really exciting their own students, giving them a passion for the competition aspect. That passion is most definately contagious. I am proud to say that I am part of one of these teams who goes out of their way to get all students on its team involved, as well as make sure that the quality of their education is at a high level. Lots of things go on behind the doors of NYPRO on a given night during build time that never see the light of day on a chairmans award basis. For instance, the hard working engineers who actually spend lots of time sitting down with students to tutor them in math, science, or in some cases even english. I know for a fact that my team is not the only team who does this. I think things like that are just as important, if not more important than starting up 10 to 12 lego teams, starting an offseason competition, or initiating some sort of program to promote FIRST. Rule number 1: If your students are happy, if they are excited, if they are competitive, they will keep comming back...I've done so for 10 years...I'm not the only one. I choose the national championship over chairmans because I dont need an award to tell me that my team does an excelent job at promoting FIRST...I already know they do...from within. If we win a national championship, its a feeling of accomplishment that tells me that we worked as a team, we struggled as a team, we came together as a team, and in the end...we succeeded as a team.

I'll take that any day.

Good Luck,
Andy Grady

Well said Mr. Grady...Well Said!!!!!!!

Justin

[WEHickok]

You asked for comments from someone from Team 67 as to winning the Championship and the Chairman's Award on the same day.

First I will say that to me the Chairman's Award is more satisfying. It puts our team into the FIRST Hall of Fame. What an honor to join the twelve teams already there. We have worked hard for nine years to be a great FIRST team. That is our "Recipe for Success".

Winning the Championship was great...Not too much time to savor that before the Chairman's was announced. But if it were not for a great move by 503 at the end of the second match on Einstein, who knows what would have happened. Any of the four alliances in the finals could have been Champions. Luck, or fate, or skill, just happened to go the way of our alliance. We had an alliance last year that was capable of winning the Championship, but we fell from the bar in the finals on Newton and broke eight joints...the wheels would no longer line up. That is why I think that the Chairman's Award is better. You can have a great robot and something wierd happen to your alliance and you are out. If you have a great team and win the Chairman's Award you are in the Hall of Fame forever.

By the way, what would you expect of someone that has spent the last eight years of his life chasing the Chairman's Award?

[Rafi Ahmed]

Thats pretty cool for 67 for having the perfect championship. Since we have won the Chairmans already that we are going for Champianship now. but Chairmans is really cool because you always going to Championship and you're in the Hall of Fame. All of the Chairman stuff we do is really fun like helping teams and our sectional it is really cool.

So Chairmans is the way to go becuase it is the meaning of FIRST.

[fancy013]

A National Chairman's because it means that I've (well the team) has done a great job so thats why I won! i mean the team. hehe. theres more to a National Chairman's. but you know what I mean.